What Might We Expect From ‘Palestine’ - by Mitchell Bard

Since the UN Human Rights Council, along with other advocates of the two-state “solution,” say nothing about the current abuses, no one should expect them to care when they continue in Palestine. Instead of suddenly being scrutinized, Palestine will be treated with the same kid gloves as other serial human rights abusers such as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and China.

Mitchell Bard..
Algemeiner..
23 July '20..

The love affair that so many politicians, peace processors, and pundits have with the creation of a Palestinian state never ceases to astonish. Advocates constantly justify support with solemn intonations about human rights, and yet they show no interest in how Palestinians are treated by Palestinians, independent of the “occupation.” It is folly to expect anything will improve in “Palestine,” which is more likely to follow the model of neighboring authoritarian regimes than Israeli democracy; nevertheless, two-staters envision a Shangri-La that must be created at all costs.

For a preview of life in Palestine, let’s look at what the State Department Human Rights report says about the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Start with the Palestinian idea of democracy. There have been no national elections in the West Bank and Gaza since 2006. President Mahmoud Abbas has remained in office despite the expiration of his four-year term in 2009, and has refused to hold an election, knowing he would lose (by some polls, more than 60% of Palestinians want him to resign). The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has not functioned since 2007, and the PA Constitutional Court dissolved it in 2018. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, following a coup in 2007.

Here are some of the other low-lights from the report, with respect to the actions of PA authorities:

- Unlawful or arbitrary killings, torture, and arbitrary detention.
- Holding political prisoners and detainees, including as reprisal for participation in foreign investment conferences.
- Significant problems with the independence of the judiciary.
- Arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy.
- Restrictions on free expression, the press, and the Internet, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions
against journalists, censorship, and site blocking.
- Substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of non-governmental
organizations.
- Restrictions on political participation.
- Acts of corruption, violence, and threats of violence motivated by antisemitism.
- Violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons.
- Forced child labor and child abuse.
- There are no laws against sexual harassment; and honor killings, though unlawful, continue.
- There is no law against human trafficking.

Sound good so far? Here’s what the report says about the situation in Gaza under Hamas:

(Continue to Full Column)

Mitchell Bard is a foreign policy analyst and authority on US-Israel relations.